US Politics | Shock reason why Elvis’ high school sweetheart broke up with ‘shy’ singer just before the peak of his fame
ELVIS Presley's first serious girlfriend pumped the breaks on her relationship with the ...painfully shy... singer just as he was on the cusp of superstardom, her daughter says. Dixie Locke Emmons, now 84, was 15 years old when she first locked eyes with an 18-year-old Elvis during a service at the First Assembly of God church in Memphis, Tennessee, back in 1953. 
GettyDixie Locke and Elvis Presley pose together during her junior prom in May 1955 '/ ' 
Kristi Emmons SmithDixie Locke (left) and her daughter Kristi (right) wrote a book about her time with Elvis '/ ' The pair would date for more than two years and their families would become incredibly close, with Elvis' mom Gladys reportedly embracing Dixie from the off, treating her like the daughter she never had. In fact, Elvis' mom was apparently so besotted with her son's teenage flame that she pushed for them to get married very early on in their relationship. And though Dixie and Elvis often fantasized about what their future may look like, nuptials would never be exchanged. Their wholesome courtship came to an amicable end in late 1955 at around the same time the future King of Rock ...n' Roll signed his landmark recording contract with RCA Records, platforming him to megastardom. Read More On Elvis 
ALWAYS ON MY MIND Elvis's ex says he spiritually visits her as orbs seen at death event 
NOT FIT FOR A KING Elvis' ex makes bizarre request at solemn vigil 45 years after his death While insisting they never sat down to have a formal break-up conversation, Dixie's daughter Kristi Emmons Jones told The U.S. Sun it was her mom who suggested it was best if they cooled on their relationship. ...Things really began to accelerate in his career,... said Kristi, 58. ...And my mom just told him, ...This is your dream, this is what you were born to do.' ...And my mother's dreams were much simpler. She didn't want fame and fortune, she wanted a nine-to-five husband who went to work in the morning and came back in the afternoon.... Kristi, who co-authored the book Unlocked: Memoirs of Elvis' First Girlfriend with Dixie, called her mother's maturity and clarity at such a young age ...remarkable.... Most read in The US Sun GET SMART I'm a lawyer - I will never use self-checkout, it's a trap CUP-LIFTING I'm a size 32DDD - I can never find corsets but I got 2 in Victoria's Secret GOING NUCLEAR Worst-case scenario after nuclear reactor meltdown revealed EDGE OF DISASTER Russia 'moves military equipment into nuclear plant' amid fears of attack VIRAL SPREAD Monkeypox virus lingers on surfaces touched by an infected person, study finds KIM'S SKIN Kim shows off REAL skin including cellulite on butt & legs in silver bikini ...As I've grown up, it's really made me respect my mom even that much more that she had the strength at that moment to say, 'I love you, but our worlds are no longer compatible,'... Kristi continued. BURNING LOVE Elvis was born into extreme poverty in Tupelo, Mississippi, and moved to Memphis with his mom, Gladys, and father, Vernon, in 1948. Growing up, he developed a deep love for gospel music, and it was this passion for the spiritual sound that led him through the doors of the First Assembly of God church and into the sights of a young Dixie. The future star had come to the church with his parents after finding out the Blackwood Brothers, a popular gospel quartet, were headquartered there. Dixie took immediate notice of the new young face among the crowd, describing Elvis as being dressed differently from the rest and ...unusually beautiful.... But despite exchanging a number of admiring glances with the handsome worshipper, still he never came over to introduce himself. ...Elvis already looked different, he dressed differently, but he was also painfully shy,... Kristi explained, relaying her mom's observations. 
GettyElvis was born into extreme poverty in Tupelo, Mississippi, and moved to Memphis in 1948 '/ ' 
GettyKnown for his unique dance moves and purring vocals, Elvis took the world by storm in the mid-late 1950s '/ ' 
Alex Kent for The US SunKristi Emmons Smith, Dixie's daughter, told The U.S. Sun that her mother initiated the break-up between her and Elvis '/ ' ...So she finally thought, ...he's so shy, he's never going to come up and speak to me,' and she decided to take matters into her own hands.... Dixie hatched a plan with a few of her friends to catch Elvis' ear one Sunday after church, speaking loudly in the lobby about plans she had to go to the local rollerskating rink that following Friday. When she arrived at the rink the next week, she walked in to see Elvis already there with his skates on, clinging onto the rail as he struggled to keep balance. Eventually, Dixie skated over to Elvis and asked if he would rather take his skates off and go find a place to talk. An apparently relieved Elvis said he would, and so followed an evening of free-flowing conversation that sparked an almost three-year teenage romance. BUDDING ROMANCE The couple's second and third dates involved meeting each other's families with Dixie's first on the bill. Growing up in a three-room home with her two parents and three sisters, Dixie and Elvis had plans to spend time together elsewhere, but her parents insisted they stayed so they could get to know her ...well-mannered... love interest better. They spent the evening playing board games and by the night's end it wasn't just Dixie who was head over hills for Elvis \- her whole family had fallen in love with him too. ...He was just that charismatic,... Kristi said. ...There was something that just drew you into him because once you got passes that shy stage, he had a really funny sense of humor.... Dixie met Elvis' much-beloved mother Gladys shortly after and was immediately accepted as a member of the family. Elvis and Dixie's parents also grew close, with Gladys and Dixie's mom finding common ground in their shared tragedy of losing a child. ...Gladys, I feel like really look to mom as almost a daughter that she never had,... Kristi said. ...Because during this time, Elvis' career was really starting to take off, he was doing gigs all over the place ... and while he was away my mom, who was still at school, would stay with the Presleys until he got home.... RISING STAR As their relationship progressed, so too did Elvis' musical career. In July 1954 he recorded his now famed single ...That's All Right', along with ...Blue Moon of Kentucky' and a few other tracks at Sam Phillips' Sun Studios, earning him local success and airtime on the radio. Gigs across state lines soon followed and Elvis became a burgeoning celebrity in the Memphis area. Dixie witnessed the hysteria surrounding her boyfriend first-hand during a concert at the local Overton Park Shell, which she attended with Gladys. Though still relatively shy and quiet off stage, Dixie told her daughter that Elvis' transformed completely the second he stood on it, possessing and captivating the sea of young women who flocked to hear him sing with his audacious dance moves and unrivaled sex appeal. ...Elvis was just one of the performers on the line-up and my mom said that she stood there with Gladys when Elvis started singing and how the crowd responded \- the women just went crazy,... said Kristi. ...And she said that she and Gladys got so tickled that she said they just stood there laughing, not in a mean way, it just tickled them to see the reaction all these women were having.... 
GettyElvis Presley pictured with songwriters Leiber and Stoller looking over the sheet music for Jailhouse Rock at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios in 1957 '/ ' 
GettyElvis is pictured with his mom, Gladys, and dad, Vernon, who shared a close relationship with the Lockes '/ ' 
GettyElvis Presley strolls the grounds of his Graceland estate in circa 1957 '/ ' When asked if her mother ever felt jealous of the legions of screaming women vying for Elvis' attention, Kristi said she didn't. In fact, according to her mother, Elvis was more jealous about what she was up to back home while he was away touring. ...It's funny because once he started traveling, he would be going all over the place and would call home, almost jealous of what she might be doing there. ...She'd tell him, ...you're the one that's out there hanging out with all these other musicians and all these beautiful women, I'm just sitting here in school.' ...So at first I don't think she was jealous at all, but as time went on, towards the end, she realized that his world was so much bigger than her's was.... THE ENVY OF ALL By the time Dixie's junior prom rolled around in May 1955, she was the envy of all of her classmates \- and even some of her teachers \- when she walked into the school event with Elvis, dressed in a white tux jacket, hanging off her arm. The night before, the sought-after performer had been chased across a football field by a swarm of girls while playing a show in Alabama. He drove back the next morning specifically to be with Dixie, making the couple the talk of the party. ...When they first started dating a lot of the kids kept him at a distance because he was so different, my mom always said,... Kristi relayed. ...But by the time that prom rolled around he was becoming the Elvis Presley, so everyone wanted to sit at their table, and even the teachers were coming over to talk to them.... In the corresponding months, although they had plans to marry once Dixie finished high school, ultimately their relationship fizzled out. In her book, Dixie writes: ...I cannot look back and remember Elvis and I ever specifically breaking up, because we didn't. ...No matter how far his fame was beginning to take him, we knew in our hearts we were eternally tied to each other.... HEARTBREAK HOTEL Elvis returned to Memphis to attend Dixie's high school reunion in 1956, but by that point, she had already moved on with the man who would become her future husband, Bobby Emmons. She would see The King for a final time at Graceland in 1958, following Gladys' sudden death at the age of 46. In a moment of despair, Elvis called Dixie at her home, wanting to see a familiar face from his more simple past. He invited her to attend Gladys' funeral and she obliged, wanting to be there to bring comfort to her former love interest. During the service, Dixie said she has never seen someone as distraught and grief-stricken as Elvis had been watching his mother's burial. After the service, he invited Dixie into Graceland where he told her he wasn't sure if he'd ever be able to move past the grief of losing his mother. ...Why don't you just stay home for a while?... she asked him. Elvis, who had recently enrolled in the US Army, insisted that he couldn't. THE KING IS DEAD, LONG LIVE THE KING In the Emmons household Elvis wasn't a name mentioned all that much while Kristi was growing up, she said. It wasn't until she started working as a tour guide at Elvis' Graceland estate when it first opened in 1982 that she realized the scale of his impact on the world, and appreciated the impact her mother had in his tender years. Kristi was 13 when Elvis died from a heart attack aged 42, on August 16, 1977. She was watching Gilligan's Island on TV after finishing school when a news ticker came across the bottom of the screen, announcing his death. Within just a few minutes their home phone rang. On the other end was Vernon Presley, Elvis' dad, who asked her to tell Dixie to contact him as soon as she could. ...When my mom got home I could see the emotion in her face,... Dixie recounted. ...I told her about Vernon's call and she's already spoken to him, asking her to come to the funeral.... 
APElvis died in August 1977 from a heart attack aged just 42 '/ ' 
Dixie and Kristi co-wrote ...Unlocked: Memoirs of Elvis' First Girlfriend' during the pandemic Dixie mulled the decision for some time. Ultimately she decided not to go, hoping to remember Elvis for the handsome and shy teenager she'd known him to be two decades before, rather than the bloated, lonely, and self-destructive rock ...n' roll cliche the press was painting him to be. ...There had been a lot of exploitation, negative press, harsh things, and sad photos and she was just like that's not the man that I knew,... said Kristi. ...She's always been somewhat private about those memories. She was very private about it for many, many years. ...But I think that was one the main reasons she didn't go because wanted to remember him the way that knew him as a teenager when life was slower and simple and full of innocence. ...And I think she wanted to make sure she preserved those memories.... Elvis superfans descended on Graceland earlier this week to mark 45 years since the star's death with a candlelight vigil. Read More on The US Sun 
WHERE IS HE? Inside the reclusive life of Richard Simmons after he vanished from screens 
STILL COMMITTED? 'Cult mom' sleuths think she's sending message after strange detail Dixie and Kristi co-wrote ...Unlocked: Memoirs of Elvis' First Girlfriend' during the pandemic. The book was released last summer and is available for purchase here.
GettyDixie Locke and Elvis Presley pose together during her junior prom in May 1955 '/ ' Kristi Emmons SmithDixie Locke (left) and her daughter Kristi (right) wrote a book about her time with Elvis '/ ' The pair would date for more than two years and their families would become incredibly close, with Elvis' mom Gladys reportedly embracing Dixie from the off, treating her like the daughter she never had. In fact, Elvis' mom was apparently so besotted with her son's teenage flame that she pushed for them to get married very early on in their relationship. And though Dixie and Elvis often fantasized about what their future may look like, nuptials would never be exchanged. Their wholesome courtship came to an amicable end in late 1955 at around the same time the future King of Rock ...n' Roll signed his landmark recording contract with RCA Records, platforming him to megastardom. Read More On Elvis ALWAYS ON MY MIND Elvis's ex says he spiritually visits her as orbs seen at death event NOT FIT FOR A KING Elvis' ex makes bizarre request at solemn vigil 45 years after his death While insisting they never sat down to have a formal break-up conversation, Dixie's daughter Kristi Emmons Jones told The U.S. Sun it was her mom who suggested it was best if they cooled on their relationship. ...Things really began to accelerate in his career,... said Kristi, 58. ...And my mom just told him, ...This is your dream, this is what you were born to do.' ...And my mother's dreams were much simpler. She didn't want fame and fortune, she wanted a nine-to-five husband who went to work in the morning and came back in the afternoon.... Kristi, who co-authored the book Unlocked: Memoirs of Elvis' First Girlfriend with Dixie, called her mother's maturity and clarity at such a young age ...remarkable.... Most read in The US Sun GET SMART I'm a lawyer - I will never use self-checkout, it's a trap CUP-LIFTING I'm a size 32DDD - I can never find corsets but I got 2 in Victoria's Secret GOING NUCLEAR Worst-case scenario after nuclear reactor meltdown revealed EDGE OF DISASTER Russia 'moves military equipment into nuclear plant' amid fears of attack VIRAL SPREAD Monkeypox virus lingers on surfaces touched by an infected person, study finds KIM'S SKIN Kim shows off REAL skin including cellulite on butt & legs in silver bikini ...As I've grown up, it's really made me respect my mom even that much more that she had the strength at that moment to say, 'I love you, but our worlds are no longer compatible,'... Kristi continued. BURNING LOVE Elvis was born into extreme poverty in Tupelo, Mississippi, and moved to Memphis with his mom, Gladys, and father, Vernon, in 1948. Growing up, he developed a deep love for gospel music, and it was this passion for the spiritual sound that led him through the doors of the First Assembly of God church and into the sights of a young Dixie. The future star had come to the church with his parents after finding out the Blackwood Brothers, a popular gospel quartet, were headquartered there. Dixie took immediate notice of the new young face among the crowd, describing Elvis as being dressed differently from the rest and ...unusually beautiful.... But despite exchanging a number of admiring glances with the handsome worshipper, still he never came over to introduce himself. ...Elvis already looked different, he dressed differently, but he was also painfully shy,... Kristi explained, relaying her mom's observations. GettyElvis was born into extreme poverty in Tupelo, Mississippi, and moved to Memphis in 1948 '/ ' GettyKnown for his unique dance moves and purring vocals, Elvis took the world by storm in the mid-late 1950s '/ ' Alex Kent for The US SunKristi Emmons Smith, Dixie's daughter, told The U.S. Sun that her mother initiated the break-up between her and Elvis '/ ' ...So she finally thought, ...he's so shy, he's never going to come up and speak to me,' and she decided to take matters into her own hands.... Dixie hatched a plan with a few of her friends to catch Elvis' ear one Sunday after church, speaking loudly in the lobby about plans she had to go to the local rollerskating rink that following Friday. When she arrived at the rink the next week, she walked in to see Elvis already there with his skates on, clinging onto the rail as he struggled to keep balance. Eventually, Dixie skated over to Elvis and asked if he would rather take his skates off and go find a place to talk. An apparently relieved Elvis said he would, and so followed an evening of free-flowing conversation that sparked an almost three-year teenage romance. BUDDING ROMANCE The couple's second and third dates involved meeting each other's families with Dixie's first on the bill. Growing up in a three-room home with her two parents and three sisters, Dixie and Elvis had plans to spend time together elsewhere, but her parents insisted they stayed so they could get to know her ...well-mannered... love interest better. They spent the evening playing board games and by the night's end it wasn't just Dixie who was head over hills for Elvis \- her whole family had fallen in love with him too. ...He was just that charismatic,... Kristi said. ...There was something that just drew you into him because once you got passes that shy stage, he had a really funny sense of humor.... Dixie met Elvis' much-beloved mother Gladys shortly after and was immediately accepted as a member of the family. Elvis and Dixie's parents also grew close, with Gladys and Dixie's mom finding common ground in their shared tragedy of losing a child. ...Gladys, I feel like really look to mom as almost a daughter that she never had,... Kristi said. ...Because during this time, Elvis' career was really starting to take off, he was doing gigs all over the place ... and while he was away my mom, who was still at school, would stay with the Presleys until he got home.... RISING STAR As their relationship progressed, so too did Elvis' musical career. In July 1954 he recorded his now famed single ...That's All Right', along with ...Blue Moon of Kentucky' and a few other tracks at Sam Phillips' Sun Studios, earning him local success and airtime on the radio. Gigs across state lines soon followed and Elvis became a burgeoning celebrity in the Memphis area. Dixie witnessed the hysteria surrounding her boyfriend first-hand during a concert at the local Overton Park Shell, which she attended with Gladys. Though still relatively shy and quiet off stage, Dixie told her daughter that Elvis' transformed completely the second he stood on it, possessing and captivating the sea of young women who flocked to hear him sing with his audacious dance moves and unrivaled sex appeal. ...Elvis was just one of the performers on the line-up and my mom said that she stood there with Gladys when Elvis started singing and how the crowd responded \- the women just went crazy,... said Kristi. ...And she said that she and Gladys got so tickled that she said they just stood there laughing, not in a mean way, it just tickled them to see the reaction all these women were having.... GettyElvis Presley pictured with songwriters Leiber and Stoller looking over the sheet music for Jailhouse Rock at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios in 1957 '/ ' GettyElvis is pictured with his mom, Gladys, and dad, Vernon, who shared a close relationship with the Lockes '/ ' GettyElvis Presley strolls the grounds of his Graceland estate in circa 1957 '/ ' When asked if her mother ever felt jealous of the legions of screaming women vying for Elvis' attention, Kristi said she didn't. In fact, according to her mother, Elvis was more jealous about what she was up to back home while he was away touring. ...It's funny because once he started traveling, he would be going all over the place and would call home, almost jealous of what she might be doing there. ...She'd tell him, ...you're the one that's out there hanging out with all these other musicians and all these beautiful women, I'm just sitting here in school.' ...So at first I don't think she was jealous at all, but as time went on, towards the end, she realized that his world was so much bigger than her's was.... THE ENVY OF ALL By the time Dixie's junior prom rolled around in May 1955, she was the envy of all of her classmates \- and even some of her teachers \- when she walked into the school event with Elvis, dressed in a white tux jacket, hanging off her arm. The night before, the sought-after performer had been chased across a football field by a swarm of girls while playing a show in Alabama. He drove back the next morning specifically to be with Dixie, making the couple the talk of the party. ...When they first started dating a lot of the kids kept him at a distance because he was so different, my mom always said,... Kristi relayed. ...But by the time that prom rolled around he was becoming the Elvis Presley, so everyone wanted to sit at their table, and even the teachers were coming over to talk to them.... In the corresponding months, although they had plans to marry once Dixie finished high school, ultimately their relationship fizzled out. In her book, Dixie writes: ...I cannot look back and remember Elvis and I ever specifically breaking up, because we didn't. ...No matter how far his fame was beginning to take him, we knew in our hearts we were eternally tied to each other.... HEARTBREAK HOTEL Elvis returned to Memphis to attend Dixie's high school reunion in 1956, but by that point, she had already moved on with the man who would become her future husband, Bobby Emmons. She would see The King for a final time at Graceland in 1958, following Gladys' sudden death at the age of 46. In a moment of despair, Elvis called Dixie at her home, wanting to see a familiar face from his more simple past. He invited her to attend Gladys' funeral and she obliged, wanting to be there to bring comfort to her former love interest. During the service, Dixie said she has never seen someone as distraught and grief-stricken as Elvis had been watching his mother's burial. After the service, he invited Dixie into Graceland where he told her he wasn't sure if he'd ever be able to move past the grief of losing his mother. ...Why don't you just stay home for a while?... she asked him. Elvis, who had recently enrolled in the US Army, insisted that he couldn't. THE KING IS DEAD, LONG LIVE THE KING In the Emmons household Elvis wasn't a name mentioned all that much while Kristi was growing up, she said. It wasn't until she started working as a tour guide at Elvis' Graceland estate when it first opened in 1982 that she realized the scale of his impact on the world, and appreciated the impact her mother had in his tender years. Kristi was 13 when Elvis died from a heart attack aged 42, on August 16, 1977. She was watching Gilligan's Island on TV after finishing school when a news ticker came across the bottom of the screen, announcing his death. Within just a few minutes their home phone rang. On the other end was Vernon Presley, Elvis' dad, who asked her to tell Dixie to contact him as soon as she could. ...When my mom got home I could see the emotion in her face,... Dixie recounted. ...I told her about Vernon's call and she's already spoken to him, asking her to come to the funeral.... APElvis died in August 1977 from a heart attack aged just 42 '/ ' Dixie and Kristi co-wrote ...Unlocked: Memoirs of Elvis' First Girlfriend' during the pandemic Dixie mulled the decision for some time. Ultimately she decided not to go, hoping to remember Elvis for the handsome and shy teenager she'd known him to be two decades before, rather than the bloated, lonely, and self-destructive rock ...n' roll cliche the press was painting him to be. ...There had been a lot of exploitation, negative press, harsh things, and sad photos and she was just like that's not the man that I knew,... said Kristi. ...She's always been somewhat private about those memories. She was very private about it for many, many years. ...But I think that was one the main reasons she didn't go because wanted to remember him the way that knew him as a teenager when life was slower and simple and full of innocence. ...And I think she wanted to make sure she preserved those memories.... Elvis superfans descended on Graceland earlier this week to mark 45 years since the star's death with a candlelight vigil. Read More on The US Sun WHERE IS HE? Inside the reclusive life of Richard Simmons after he vanished from screens STILL COMMITTED? 'Cult mom' sleuths think she's sending message after strange detail Dixie and Kristi co-wrote ...Unlocked: Memoirs of Elvis' First Girlfriend' during the pandemic. The book was released last summer and is available for purchase here.
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